curieusevscurieusesTell them apart

Quick tell: curieuse is a noun, curieuses is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“curieuse” is a noun and “curieuses” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,812
“curieuse” frequency rank
#33,632
“curieuses” frequency rank
43444
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature curieuse curieuses
Definition Femme qui est curieuse. Féminin pluriel de curieux.

Same sound, different letters: curieuse vs curieuses

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. curieuse runs 8 letters (CVCVVVCV) against curieuses's 9 (CVCVVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
curieuse
9 ch
curieuses

Homophone desk: curieuse vs curieuses

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: curieuse and curieuses carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ky.ʁjøz\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “curieuse” sits inside “curieuses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

curieuse is recorded at frequency rank #9,812, classified as anoun, pronounced \ky.ʁjøz\. curieuses is at rank #33,632, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ky.ʁjøz\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 43444, this pair ranks #218,022 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of curieuse vs curieuses

Shared letters: ceirsu. Private to "curieuse": -. Private to "curieuses": -.

"curieuse" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCV  ·  "curieuses" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • curieuse ← ccurieuse · cruieuse · cuireuse · cureiuse · curiesue · curieues · curieusse · curiuese
  • curieuses ← ccurieuses · cruieuses · cuireuses · cureiuses · curiesues · curieuess · curieusess · curieusses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "curieuse" and "curieuses" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "curieuse" is a noun and "curieuses" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "curieuse" vs "curieuses" - which ranks higher?
"curieuse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,812 in our French list, against #33,632 for "curieuses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "curieuse" / "curieuses". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "curieuse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "curieuses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #218,022 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "curieuse" and "curieuses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creuses vs curieuses". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #218,022 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list